These days it is not easy being a retail investor. No matter where you look there seems to be negative news everywhere but do not let short-term thinking cloud your long-term judgement. There have been many instances in previous articles that I have talked about market volatility and ensuring you have a plan for market volatility. This is one of those times.

If you are reliant on the income that your portfolio produces then you should have enough cash on the side-lines to get you through a potential bear market. If you don’t have the cash then you could always utilize a credit facility like a line of credit, but this option is contingent on your personal feelings of debt. If you do not have an existing plan then now is the time to start thinking and preparing for a potential bear market and minimizing the amount of shares that you will have to sell if we continue to see further temporary losses.

If you are still accumulating assets then this should be seen as an opportunity. If you are able to, draw in your spending habits and allocate a larger proportion to investment. The S&P500 closed at a value of 3,991 on Monday, May 9, which is a 2022 YTD return of -16%. The last time that the S&P500 experienced this value was at the end of March 2021. Negative market volatility is like having a time machine that can take you back to the past and allow you invest at former levels.

Let’s not forget that this volatility is completely normal and has been expected. The S&P500 has rewarded investors by providing annual returns of 29%, 16%, and 27% in 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectfully. The average annual S&P500 return from 1980 to 2021 is 9.4%. We can’t expect the returns of the past few years to continue every year and we actually should not want them to continue at such high levels compared to the average. The longer that a market continues to experience abnormally higher returns than the long-term average will usually result in a larger than normal downturn at some point in the future. Once this current correction and transition is over, the global economy will likely be in a better position.

Looking at the past 72 years (from 1928 – 2021), on average, the S&P500 has experienced

• A correction once every 2 years (a decline of 10% from the most recent market high)
• A bear market once every 7 years (a decline of 20% from the most recent market high)
• A crash once every 12 years (a decline of 30% from the most recent market high)

In Canada, we experience snow almost every year depending on where you live. Think of our Canadian winter experience like a market correction because it happens almost as often. When we feel our first snowflake of the year, do you start stocking up on food, fuel, and all of the essentials for the next ice age? No, that would be silly, we bundle up and we continue living our life. Your portfolio should be prepared for corrections and bear markets the same way that we have to dig our warmer clothing out of storage for the winter months. We are in the midst of a market snowfall right now but we will get through it and eventually the spring sun will be upon us again.

Want to chat about it? Email me at info@financerx.ca.

This comment comes up sometimes when I discuss a client’s cash reserves that are not flagged for something specific in the short-term. This can lead to “analysis paralysis” – where so much energy and time is spent comparing and evaluating variables that no action is actually taken. As humans, sometimes we are so scared to make the wrong decision that we would rather not act at all. The problem with this is that you may be providing yourself with comfort today by reducing the chance of a temporary loss of value but you may be giving up comfort in your future by losing out on any gains that will occur between now and when you actually choose to act.

When these conversations come up then I usually like to go through a bit of an exercise with clients, which is just a set of questions that you can follow along and answer on your own.

• Do you have any need for this money in the short-term (1 – 5 years)? The answer to this question is usually no, or else we wouldn’t be talking about investing these funds into a long term solution.

• So, you want to wait to invest until the world seems to be settled and world economies look better? What does that kind of world look like to you?

• That sounds like a great time to invest. Now, keeping in mind the type of world that you just described, compared to today where do you think stock market prices would be in the type of world that you are describing?

• As you can probably surmise, everyone answers the last question as “higher.”

Markets are uncertain, the world is uncertain too, and the greater certainty that exists will result in higher asset prices because there are less negative variables working against the positive variables. The object of investing is to buy LOW and sell HIGH and by waiting to invest until the world is less volatile and more certain then you can almost guarantee that you will have to buy at higher price levels.

J.P. Morgan has put together a chart of the Consumer Confidence Index and the subsequent 12-month S&P500 returns from January 1971 to March 2022:

The chart shows us that when consumer confidence is high and there is a turning point in sentiment then the S&P500 usually does not provide much of a return in the following twelve month period. The outlier in this observation is February 2020 (the onset of the global COVID pandemic), when confidence was high and the market provided a one year return of 31.3%. I believe the reason for this outlier is that consumer confidence definitely turned negative after February 2020 but the unprecedented economic stimulus of governments around the world resulted in financial markets remaining strong. If you look at the negative points on the chart that represent a change of sentiment to more positive values then you can see that the resulting twelve month returns of the S&P500 are much higher. Currently, consumer confidence is low (59.4 compared to an average of 85.6) but no one knows if we are at a turning point today or if it will come tomorrow, next week, or next year.

What I will say is that I’d rather continue to purchase shares in the great companies of today when confidence is low and uncertainty is high than the opposite. If your situation is the opposite, requiring income from your portfolio, then there are different strategies that exist to get you through these low-confidence periods of time. It could be as easy as putting aside a certain amount of cash, between 2 to 5 years, so that you can have the piece of mind that you do not need to sell shares of your existing portfolio at depressed prices to provide you with your required income.

In closing, I could never say it better than some quotes from The Great Warren Buffet.

“Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.”

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”

Want to chat about it? Email me at info@financerx.ca.

Our lives are rarely static for long periods of time. Change can occur due to outside forces that we can not control or it can occur from a direct choice that we have made so if you continually expect change to occur frequently in your life then it will be less surprising when it occurs. The reason that I bring this up is because my partner and I recently adopted a puppy so the last few weeks have been very different from what we were used to. We have had to change our sleep schedules, our work schedules, our budget, and pretty much everything else that you could think of. The changes are welcomed but, as a financial planner, it means that every prior plan that I have made for our future requires some tweaks to reflect our current situation. Your chosen financial representative should understand this and they should encourage you to contact them to update your plan whenever a material change occurs in your life, especially one that will change your finances. Many different adaptations of your plan will need to be made over the course of your lifetime to reflect the changes that will occur.

Any change to your plan today, no matter how small, will have larger repercussions as you increase the length of time that you are planning for. This is a concept known as, “The Butterfly Effect,” which states that a small change today can lead to vastly different outcomes in the future. The main principle to keep in mind here is time. Time is one of our most valuable assets because it is finite and no one truly knows how much of it they have left. When it comes to investing, the length of time that you have to invest (called your investment time horizon) is going to be one of the most important variables in determining how to invest and what value to expect in the future.

When we are young, we have seemingly unlimited time but finite resources to do the things that we want to do. As we grow older, if we carefully plan, we should have all of the resources required to satisfy our wants and needs but it is time that seems to slip away from us. Time is valuable but its importance only becomes more clear as more of it passes us by. If only we could have told our younger selves to put away those extra dollars or make them think twice about a substantial purchase that was not truly needed. I know that my parent’s tried to do just that but, again, my younger self did not understand this particular relationship with time.

One exercise that I learned during the course of my career to show this relationship in a more tangible way is to think of a meter stick, just like the ones that you remember from your school years. A meter stick is one hundred centimeters long. In 2022, the average life expectancy in Canada is 83 years (rounded) so automatically cut 17 centimeters off the end of the meter stick. Now, think about how old you are today, and place a mental mark on the corresponding centimeter that represents your age. The distance from your mental mark to the new end of the meter stick, at 83 years, is the amount of time that you have left to live, on average. Just before your 21st birthday you’ve already burned up a quarter of your life and the middle of the way through your 41st year you will have reached your halfway point. This exercise can be eye-opening because many of us do not realize how quickly the distance to the end of the meter stick shrinks.

You may have been a late bloomer to have this epiphany about time as a resource but I can tell you that it is never too late to create a vision and a plan to achieve that vision. A plan, no matter how many times you are required to change it, is still the best way to ensure that you have the directions to navigate the tides of time to succeed in achieving the future that you envision. A vision without a plan is just an illusion and a plan without a vision is void of any feeling or emotion.

If you need help creating your own unique vision and subsequent plan then reach out to me at info@financerx.ca & if you are curious about our newest addition to the family, here is a picture.

Choosing the correct key people in your life is a big decision and is one that you should not take lightly. I’m talking about the person (or persons) that will make sure that your affairs continue to remain in order in the event of incapacitation and thereafter. A lot of people put more emphasis on choosing an executor than a power of attorney but more thought should be put on the latter instead of the former. The reason that I believe this to be the case is that if your power of attorney steps in to assist you then that means you are still living and your well-being will be determined by how well of a job that they do acting as your attorney. Once your executor must step in then you have passed on and what will be, will be.

You have many options for choosing these key people. You can choose family members, friends, or a professional (like a lawyer or a trust & estate corporation). As we know, most people choose family members but do these family members know what they are signing up for? Are they going to be able to do the best job possible if they live elsewhere or if they can not take the necessary time off of work to complete their duties? Most estates do not require a lot of time but it can be very time consuming if there is real estate or other physical-type assets involved (like art, collectibles, etc.).

Generally, a power of attorney does not get paid for their services unless it is written into the legal POA. They have a very important job though, including paying all bills, ensuring all your accounts are kept up-to-date, paying taxes, and buying and selling investments or even real estate. Their job is to make you a priority and ensure that everything that you need is taken care of.

An executor’s job is to secure all assets of an estate and then distribute them according to the deceased person’s wishes. They will follow what you have written in your Will and ensure that everything is dispersed according to your wishes. In regards to a fee, an executor in British Columbia can take as little as 0% but has the option of taking up to 5% of the total estate value. Bear in mind that any accounts that are held Joint with Rights of Survivorship do not pass according to your estate, as they become solely owned by the surviving account owners. Another thing to keep in mind is that any asset (such as a TFSA and RRSP/RRIF) does not have to pass according to your estate if you have named a beneficiary on these accounts at your financial institution.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you are choosing these Key People:

What sort of financial knowledge does this person have? How is their own financial situation?

How old are they today? How old will they be in the future if they have to step into either role?

Are they going to be available for you? Can they take time off of work if it is required?

Now, just because someone has chosen you to act as their power of attorney or executor that does not mean that you have to move forward with it. People need to keep this in mind because as soon as you begin to act as an attorney or executor then you are personally liable for the decisions that you make. You can pass the responsibility on to someone else or enlist the help of a corporation that specializes in these types of roles. All of the Canadian Chartered Banks have Trust & Estate Specialists that focus on these roles and can step in to assist. If you are concerned about any of the responsibilities required then why not enlist a professional? It is a huge responsibility to act as someone’s executor and attorney so think it through before you agree to anything.

Want some help developing your Estate plan? Email me at info@financerx.ca.

The creation of an efficient estate plan requires some thought and should be reviewed approximately every five years to ensure that no changes need to be made. I’ve found that most clients did not know that there are two different options when it comes to how estate assets and registered accounts are dispersed, Per Stirpes and Per Capita. Both options look the same up until the moment a beneficiary passes away and then you can see the clear differences.

We all know how estate dispersions work but I have created a picture to make it easier (see below). Looking at the estate breakdown below, you will see that someone passed away and the estate is evenly split between three beneficiaries. This means that each beneficiary will receive approximately 33.3% of the total estate. 

What if one of these beneficiaries happens to predecease the person at the top? If an estate is set up Per Capita, which is the most common, then if one of the beneficiaries were to pass away first then the estate would be distributed evenly amongst the surviving beneficiaries. You will see below that the two remaining beneficiaries now get to evenly split the estate between the both of them and the deceased person’s heirs receive none.

The other option, if one of the beneficiaries happens to predecease the person at the top, is know is Per Stirpes. Per Stirpes means that if one of your listed beneficiaries predeceases you then their portion will pass to their heirs, based on the deceased beneficiary’s Will. The Per Stirpes designation is most common when parent’s would like their assets to pass to their adult child’s family in the event that their adult child predeceases them.

Making sure that your Will and Registered Accounts are set up correctly will ensure that your distribution requests continue to be acted upon as you originally wanted them to be, even if one of your beneficiaries were to pass away. No one knows what the future holds and, especially as we age, you may find yourself in a situation where you can not update your will or beneficiary designations on your registered accounts.

For example, if someone is deemed by a doctor to have experienced a loss of cognitive functioning then their Power of Attorney (POA) may be asked to step forward to assist making financial and health related decisions. Once someone has been deemed incapable then their estate and account beneficiaries may not be able to be changed because it could be argued that the person is not of sound mind and, therefore, is incapable of making these types of changes. POA’s are not allowed to update someone’s will or change their registered account beneficiaries.

Understanding the difference between these two options for dispersing assets to your beneficiary will allow you to make a more informed decision and ensure that your estate plan is reflective of your issues.

Want some help developing your Estate plan? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca.

It is very common for people to believe that they are making the best decision by adding their children as joint owners onto their real estate to potentially save some money and help streamline their estate. The two most common types of real estate are principal residences and rental properties. It may make sense for your situation to add someone on to a property’s title but it also opens you up to the potential for enormous liability if you are not informed before making this decision.

Principal Residence

As Canadians, we are very lucky to have a principal residence capital gains tax exemption. This means that your principal residence will be sheltered from any capital gains, which is the difference between what your house sells for and the adjusted cost base (the original purchase price plus any improvements, renovations, etc.). CRA only allows one principal residence per couple (married & common law). If the property is already joint with your living spouse and one spouse passes away then the property becomes solely owned by the surviving spouse without any tax or probate. If the home is still owned by the last surviving spouse upon their passing then the last surviving spouse’s executor will take over with handling the sale and will disperse the proceeds according to the last surviving spouse’s will. The property will remain exempt from any capital gains tax from the value on the day that the home was purchased up until the day of the last surviving spouse’s passing. The estate will incur capital gains tax on any gain that is realized on the difference in value from the day of the last surviving spouse’s passing up until the day that the property is sold. If the executor is handling the sale then that means that the property has passed according to a will, which means that it is subject to a probate fee. In British Columbia, the probate fee can be estimated to be around 1.4%. This means that an estimated sale price of $1,000,000 would be subject to a probate fee of around $14,000.

Rental Properties

Unfortunately, rental properties in Canada do not have any capital gains tax exemptions. This means that, unlike a Principle Residence, a rental property will be subject to income tax if it is sold for a higher value than what it originally cost plus any improvements, renovations, etc.. If the property is sold prior to the last joint owner’s passing then only income tax will need to be paid. If the property is sold by the executor of the last joint owner then it will be subject to income tax and probate.

Adding Children onto Properties

From the information about the different types of properties listed above, people may want to add their children on to the title of their homes to avoid probate in the case of a principal residence or probate and income tax in the case of a rental property. It seems like a great idea to add whomever on the title of a property and continue to defer any probate or income tax for future generations but if it seems like such a great idea then you should also realize that CRA would not allow it. CRA will always want their “pound of flesh” and there is no such thing as a free-ride in the eyes of the tax man. If you make any changes to whomever is listed on title then CRA may look at this like a deemed disposition, which means that any applicable capital gains may be subject to income tax. This would be unfortunate because the property was not actually sold so, unless you have the excess cash around to pay applicable tax from capital gains, then you will be left with a tax bill with no money to pay it.

Another issue that can arise is if the property is your principal residence because CRA only allows one principal residence per couple. This means that if you add someone on title and they already have a principal residence then you may put a portion of your principal residence income tax exemption in jeopardy for future years.

Lastly, and I believe this to be the largest issue, is that any jointly owned real estate may be looked at as each joint owner’s property. This means that if an account is joint then it may be at risk in divorce proceedings, bankruptcy court, and court injunctions. It would be rather unfortunate if you worked your entire life for your home to be paid off only to have to re-mortgage because your child went through a divorce, claimed bankruptcy, or was sued and lost.

All-in-all, without understanding your complete financial situation it is very hard to say whether it makes sense to add anybody onto the title of a property to try to avoid probate or income tax and no one should provide this advice to you without a complete understanding of your situation. This article is only meant to provide information so that all of the repercussions of any actions taken can be thought out beforehand. Do your research, ask the experts, and make sure that you have a complete understanding. Usually, there are a lot of inefficiencies in estate plans that are easier to minimize than something as big and risky as the one discussed above.

Want some help developing your Estate plan? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca.

Part 1 of my Estate Planning series will go over the types of assets that pass through a Will and which assets do not have to pass through a Will.

It isn’t uncommon for people to think that every asset passes through their Will and therefore needs to be added to their Will, but this is not the case, and it may actually save some money for your estate if the asset doesn’t. In this article I am going to discuss the assets that pass through a Will and assets that do not have to pass through a Will. Bear in mind that anything that passes through a Will is subject to probate. Probate is a process through the provincial courts that verifies that a will is real and is the most up to date version. The cost of probate in British Columbia can be estimated to be around 1.4%, meaning that anything that passes through a will is subject to this cost. Income tax may also be a concern too but this depends on the type of asset or type of account.

Non-Registered Investment Accounts / Bank Accounts : If these accounts are solely owned then they will pass according to the account owner’s Will and be subject to probate. Alternatively, these accounts may be set up as Joint with Rights of Survivorship, which would result in the account becoming the sole property of the remaining account holder(s). Joint accounts are not subject to probate costs as they do not pass according to a Will.

Real Estate : If it is solely owned then it will pass according to your Will and will be subject to probate. Real estate can be a jointly owned asset too. Jointly owned real estate may be set up as Joint with Rights of Survivorship, which means that the remaining account holders will take over the deceased owner’s portion. Jointly owned real estate can also be set up as Tenancy in Common, which means that the portion owned by the deceased will pass through the deceased’s will to their heirs and will be subject to probate. If the real estate is solely owned or is set up as tenancy in common then there will also be income tax that will need to be paid by the estate, but only if the property does not qualify for Canada’s coveted Principal Residence Designation.

Art, Collectibles, & Antiques : These unique assets will pass according to the deceased’s Will and will be subject to probate based on their estimated value. This classification of items is known as “personal use property” and income tax in the form of capital gains or losses will also have to be taken into consideration. Under income tax law, you are assumed to have ‘sold’ these types of assets at fair market value the day before you pass away, and the difference between your accrued cost basis and the estimated fair market value will be included as a capital gain or loss on your terminal tax return. I’ll add that this classification of assets can cause a lot of chaos between estate beneficiaries if the Will is not specific as to whom you would like to give the individual pieces to or if you wish for them to be sold by the executor and the proceeds dispersed to the beneficiaries of the Will. There may be a high emotional value or a high actual monetary value attached to these types of assets and it isn’t uncommon for these types of assets to lead to arguments among family members. The deceased’s instructions should be very clear as to the handling of these types of assets.

Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) : These accounts have the option of passing through a will by listing the estate as the beneficiary or the account owner can list a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries. The benefit of naming a specific beneficiary is that it protects this account from probate costs and, usually, the TFSA will be one of the first accounts provided to a beneficiary or beneficiaries because it is not subject to any income tax either. If a spouse is the only listed beneficiary of a TFSA then there is the option of successor-holder beneficiary, which means that the living spouse would simply become the owner of this TFSA if one spouse passes away. This avoids the requirement of having to liquidate the account prior to passing along the proceeds. Another benefit of adding a spouse as successor-holder is that they will essentially dissolve the value of the TFSA into their own without having to worry about the normal TFSA contribution limits.

Registered Accounts (RRSP, LIRA) : Similar to a TFSA, these accounts have the option of passing through a will by listing the estate as a beneficiary or you can name a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries directly. The benefit of naming a specific beneficiary is that the account is protected from probate costs but the deceased’s estate will still have to pay the income tax on the balance of these accounts. The account will be liquidated by the executor, the estate tax will be paid on the deceased’s terminal tax return, and then the proceeds will be dispersed to any beneficiary or beneficiaries.

Registered Income Accounts (RRIF, LIF) : These accounts are the same as the TFSA, meaning that a specific beneficiary or beneficiaries can be listed or the estate can be listed as the beneficiary and a will specifies whom the proceeds will go to. If a spouse is the only listed beneficiary then there is the option of a successor-holder beneficiary, which means that the remaining spouse would simply become the owner of this account if one spouse passed away. This avoids the requirement of having to liquidate the account prior to awarding it to the living spouse and this also bypasses any income tax. The estate will have to pay the income tax on this account if anyone except the spouse is listed as the beneficiary.

Creating an efficient estate plan is no easy task and time should be allocated to ensure that your estate plan matches your wishes. What would be the point of deferring the enjoyment that your assets can provide to your heirs if CRA is simply going to be take half (based on British Columbia’s highest marginal tax rate of 53.5%)?

Want some help developing your Estate plan? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca.

Many of us are glued to the headlines that are being released regarding the Russian invasion on Ukraine, which started on Thursday, February 24. The world has seen many battles, wars, and occupations but this invasion seems to hit us all closer to home. The democratic views of our western world are being tested against Putin and his oligarchy. This is something that plays into every single person’s humility and emotions, but now is not the time to let those emotions creep into making investment decisions.

The S&P500 officially crossed and closed in correction territory on Wednesday, February 23. A correction is defined as a 10% decline from the last high, which was on January 3. Corrections are completely normal in the stock market and occur on average of about every year or two. Bear in mind that we haven’t had a correction since March 2020 so you could say that we were due. In the short-term, no one knows if the market will recover from here or continue its decline into bear market territory, which is defined as a 20% decline from the last high. The S&P500 experiences a bear market on average of around once every five years but the last two were 2018 and 2020 so by no means does the market follow the actual average.

The market has always and will always be smarter than us. The market saw the economic damage slowing from CoVid and started it’s ascent from the lows in March 2020, before the public could even visualize a back-to-normal scenario. As of now, the market hasn’t really been heavily affected from the Ukrainian crisis, as it was already negative in 2022 from the fear of inflation and higher interest rates. The longer the invasion of Ukraine goes on then the higher chance that it will slow global growth but Russia and Ukraine only make up about two percent of the global economy so, while it is unfathomable to think about on a human level, the invasion of Ukraine will not stop the world’s growth. We just had an event that drastically slowed global growth and it was CoVid, where everyone and everything was affected.

What the market doesn’t care about is how long you have to invest or how much you need to achieve your income goals. Your advisor can’t tell you when it is the most opportune time to invest or sell, because no one can, but they can use their expertise to advise you on investment decisions based on your near-term and longer-term goals. What I will say is that every daily market decline experienced means a lower probability that tomorrow’s result will also be negative. We all know that the market has gone up over time, albeit with periods of decline along the way. You just have to ensure that you have enough cash (or cash equivalents) set aside to get through those periods of decline. How much do you need? None, because you’ll use lending options? One year? Two years? There is no ‘right’ answer to this question except the amount that it takes for you to have piece of mind to get you through the periods of decline so that you aren’t going to emotionally sell and crystallize a non-recoverable loss on your investments.

The market has experienced conflict in the past and it will experience further conflict in the future. We can look back at past periods so that we have a better idea of what to expect in the future. I’ve put together a chart that shows the S&P500 returns (both nominal and real) during historical periods of conflict.

During all of the major conflicts shown above, the average inflation-adjusted S&P500 return has been 6.2% per year. This is very close to the long term annual inflation-adjusted S&P500 return from 1928 to 2021, which is 6.8%. While we may experience short-term volatility during any period of heightened uncertainty, the market has always been able to see past the uncertainty and I don’t see any reason to believe that it won’t see past this one too.

Stay-the-course and always let your goals dictate your investment decisions, not your emotions.

Here are some things that you can do if you are feeling uneasy about the current conditions:

i) Focus on What You Can Control : You can’t control the market but you can control your savings and spending rate.

ii) Help Where You Can : You may be able to donate your time, spare cash, or items to people in need.

iii) Watch Less News & Get Outside : It is proven that being outside relieves stress and it good for your mental health so take a break from screen time and head outdoors.

iv) Talk to Someone : It may be friends, family, an advisor, whomever. Reach out and have a chat.

v) Realize That Conflict is Normal History : It’s happened in the past and it’ll happen again in the future.

vi) Always Refer to Your Financial Plan : Your financial plan should have market corrections and bear markets embedded in the plan, meaning that you have planned for this. Let your plan show you that you are prepared.

vii) Do Nothing : Humans instinctively want to act. This instinct has helped us survive the span of our human existence but that same instinct will only reduce the probability of your investment portfolio achieving success.

Want to chat more? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, a total of 67,000 Canadians were victims of fraud in 2021 and collectively lost around $380 million. This number is an underestimate because these numbers are only reported values but many victims of fraud are too ashamed to actually report it to police. The Government of Canada has put together a library of information on different scams, what to do if you have been a victim, and has a place where you can report any scams and fraud. The website can be found here (https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm). Making sure that you stay up-to-date on common methods that cybercriminals use can help make sure that your information and finances stay safe.

Social media is a combined trillion dollar business. We have dating companies like Bumble and Match. We have sharing platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr. We have social selling platforms like Spotify and Etsy. We have a number of gaming companies that are too numerous to count, which are pumping out new apps daily. Finally we have the mega-leaders like Snapchat, Meta/Instagram, ByteDance (TikTok), Twitter, Reddit. There is a massive amount of your personal information on the web in different forms and there are lots of ways that criminals can use social media to gain access to your information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent government agency in the USA, is focused on antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. They have advised that social media scams account for a quarter of all reported losses and people aged 18 to 39 are actually twice as likely as older adults to lose money from a social media scam. I believe that this is due to the younger generation growing up with online purchasing taking precedence over in-person shopping. This has given the younger generation a heightened level of trust when they are buying goods and services online without thinking about who is on the other side of the transaction. The ease of developing a fake persona on social media and the ability to use the different advertising tools to target specific audiences allows social media to hold the top spot for all fraud

Investment-related scams were the most prevalent type of fraud on social media, accounting for a third of all reported scams. If the promises seem too good to be true then they usually are. Have you ever taken a minute to think that if someone had “the golden idea” to investing in anything then why would they provide that idea to the masses, whatever the price they charge. If an investment idea is so profitable then whomever created it should have endless profits. Additionally, be very wary about different platforms that you use to invest. We have seen numerous ponzi schemes related to different cryptocurrency exchanges. The only reason that I bring these up is that cryptocurrency exchanges are so new that there are hundreds to choose from and regulators are still scrambling to get the necessary laws in place to keep these websites in check. If an exchange is fraudulent then investors usually end up getting pennies back on their dollar, if anything, when authorities shut down these fraudulent websites. Be careful, be cautious, and don’t get sucked into the latest trend simply due to the fear of missing out.

Romance scams were a close second when it comes to fraud on social media. I’m not going to talk much about this one. Our emotions can trick us to make decisions that we would not normally make. I’d avoid sending any money online to anyone that asks, no matter how good or bad their story is as to why. Just don’t do it or get advice from someone that you trust before you send the money. It can help if someone can think about what you are about to do logically rather than emotionally.

Online shopping scams held the spot for the third most reports of fraud on social media. Have you ever bought something online that just never came? Not all of these lost packages are fraudulent but companies are getting more and more sophisticated to gain your confidence by creating fake tracking numbers and even responding to email requests regarding the location of your package. Make sure that you are buying products from reputable sellers as there is no protection from the social media company if your product doesn’t arrive. The FTC has stated that 90% of the reports associated with undelivered goods on social media platform purchases are associated with Facebook and Instagram. One way to help combat this type of fraud is to make sure all your online purchases go through a credit card. Most credit cards have existing insurance that covers the cardholder if the goods or services are not delivered as advertised.

The last type of fraud that I am going to discuss today is through the use of a clickable link or scannable QR code. Clicking an unknown link or scanning a foreign QR code is not to be taken lightly as cybercriminals can embed different technology to steal data, gain access to a device, or to redirect payment somewhere else. This is becoming so prevalent that the Federal Bureau of Investigation put out a Public Service Announcement on January 18 so that people are aware. The link to the PSA can be found here (https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA220118). Don’t just click first and ask questions later, be vigilant.

It seems that cybercriminals are waiting around every corner but I’d argue that our online presence is higher than it has ever been before. We exist more in the virtual world today than we ever have in the past and I do not see this trend slowing down anytime soon. I’m not saying to avoid all online transactions but I am saying that careful thought is required before doing anything online. If you’re worried, ask your advisor. Over the course of our careers, we have seen many kinds of fraud so our experience has taught us to see through some of the different techniques that cybercriminals try to use.

Want to chat more? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca

The Baby Boomer generation, classified as anyone born between 1946 and 1964, will be as old as 76 and as young as 58 years old in 2022. According to Statistics Canada, about 5,000 baby boomers are retiring every week and this is going to mean big changes for Canada’s labour market but what does this mean for the key professionals in your life? Do you have new medical professionals lined up, like a doctor and a dentist? What about any legal issues, do you have a new lawyer in mind? How about your finances, is there a plan as to who will take over once your current advisor retires? The problem is that you may get whomever your current professional decides, regardless of whether you actually get along with them or not, and hopefully your current professional ensures that it is the best person for the job. Some professionals simply retire and do not have anyone taking their place so then it is up to you to try to find someone that you can trust.

I can only speak to the financial industry as that is where my expertise lies. A recent survey found that 51% of advisors were 55 years of age and older. If your age is around the same as your current advisor’s age and you are thinking about retirement then you can be certain that they are too. The most expensive years in retirement are usually going to be your first decade and your last so who is going to help you make the ongoing difficult decisions to ensure your future success? A lot changes when your flip the switch from appreciation of assets to depreciation of assets and you may not have the excess to afford to make any mistakes. Once your employment income stops, every decision that you make is important because the repercussions of any decision will be amplified twenty, thirty, or potentially forty years in the future.

So how do you do it? How do you trust someone that can be as young as half of your age with your life savings? Your savings that you have tirelessly worked decades to build, through the good times and the bad, so that you can eventually clock-out for the last time. The Canadian financial industry is becoming more and more regulated as time goes on, and so it should. There is ongoing discussion of reserving certain titles solely for individuals that are willing to put in the time and effort to show that they are committed to their clients but, unfortunately, there is no Canada-wide standardization yet. The terms “financial advisor” and “financial planner” are still used broadly and do not always mean that a person has specific qualifications, expertise or certifications. However, there are certain designations that you can look for. I’d stress that having a qualified and accredited financial planner is one of the most important qualifications. Your financial representative may have their Personal Financial Planner (PFP), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), or Registered Financial Planner (RFP) and, without going into the nuances of each of them, I’d suggest that this is the first qualification that you look for. A planner will be able to help quantify your vision into financial goals and show you the different paths to achieve your goals. Would you agree to surgery by someone who has never taken specialized education in their field? Your medical health should be looked at the same way as your financial health because you want to ensure that you get the correct diagnosis.

Another way to plan for your financial future is to ask your current advisor about their succession plans. If you currently work with only one advisor then it isn’t bad to ask about their retirement and succession plans. You are simply trying to cover your bases and get as much information as possible so that you can plan your own future. They should have a clear and specific answer for you, if not already having someone specifically in mind that you can start to be introduced to. If your current advisor is already using a multi-generational team approach then I’d say you are safe but it never hurts to ask. Getting as much information about their plans for the future allows you to have more confidence in your own future.

The goal of this article isn’t to scare you, the goal is to get you thinking. Not only do you need to be making the right decisions today for your own financial future but it also matters who you choose to have in your corner. The older person that you will one day be is relying on the decisions that you make today.

Want to chat more? Reach out to me at info@financerx.ca